"Compassion"

 

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind" and "Love your neighbor as yourself." And then he asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?"

 

            It is a rather simple story that Jesus tells. There is not too much that must be explained. In response to a question about neighbors, Jesus tells a story. A man travels a road that goes steeply down from Jerusalem to Jericho. The road drops about 3,500 feet in elevation in 17 miles. It was dangerous to travel there because there were often bandits hiding along the way.  And in this story, the man is beaten and robbed and left lying half-dead.

            Then Jesus has three people walk by him: a priest, a Levite and a Samaritan. There does not seem to be any difference in the actions of the priest and the Levite. Quite a few priests lived in Jericho in those days, and they would come up to Jerusalem to do their one week of service each year. Each of them sees the injured man but passes by. They were clearly under obligation of the law either to help save this man's life, or, if he had died, to see to his burial. There were also laws about not touching a corpse. But the greater laws were those about helping or burying, and those laws should have been obeyed. Jesus does not say why these two did not help, and his audience was probably puzzled at this point.

            Then the audience would have expected Jesus to say that an Israelite came along. But Jesus surprises them by saying the helper was a Samaritan. There was a long history of hostility between Jews and Samaritans. In the year 9 AD some Samaritans went into the Jerusalem temple and scattered bones all over it during Passover. This type of thing had been going on for many years, both ways. They did not like each other. There was even a statement that to stand in the shadow of a Samaritan would cause you to be unclean. But there was still enough business between the two countries that it was not unusual to find one traveling in the other's territory. It is the Samaritan who helps and acts like a neighbor to the Jewish man lying by the road.

            Now, is this just a story Jesus makes up to say that some people are naturally helpful, and are able to do good deeds without looking at the color of skin or national origin? Is it about having a sense of our common humanity? Or is there something deeper in this?

            In II Chronicles chapter 28, we read of a time when Samaria was at war with Judah. Samaria won the battle, and came home with much plunder and many men and women from Judah who would be their slaves. But a prophet met them, and told them they won the victory because God saw the sins of Judah and punished them with defeat, but the Samaritans went too far in their brutality. The prophet tells the Samaritans that they too are guilty of the same sins, and so they should repent of their violence and let the Judeans go home. They take these words to heart, and repent. Then it says, "They provided the Judeans with clothes and sandals, food and drink, and healing balm. All those who were weak they put on donkeys. They took them back to their fellow Israelites at Jericho and then returned to Samaria."

            I wonder if Jesus is thinking of that passage as he tells his story, because the language is so very similar. Does he want his audience to connect this Good Samaritan with the actions of the repentant Samaritans in Chronicles? If so, then the story Jesus tells is not just about being good and helpful to all in need, but is about participating in a larger story, of connecting our lives intentionally to the healing of wounded relationships, of practicing repentance, of living in obedience to God who reconciles enemies.

            When African-American churches began joining the Covenant Church in the 1970's, one of the requirements for the pastors of those churches was to take courses in Covenant history and theology. As they learned our history, beginning in Sweden and then coming to America, they wondered how those people related to the experiences of the black church. They wanted to know how our histories intersected. For instance, in the civil rights movement of the 1960's, were our churches with them, or did we not care, or were we with those who opposed them? They wanted to know if there are things in our histories that can be affirmed and celebrated, and if there might be some aspects that need to be reconciled and for which repentance must be expressed? In other words, "Who is my neighbor?" In getting to know my neighbor, is there a need for forgiveness, for healing?

            Jesus does not just answer the question "Who is my neighbor?" by saying "Everyone is your neighbor. Be a good person to everybody." He tells a story about real groups of people who live in a particular history that includes violence and hostility. He is not saying that the priest and the Levite were bad people, or hard-hearted people, and the Samaritan was a good person or that all Samaritans are good, helpful people. He is saying that there is no boundary to mercy.

Klyne Snodgrass writes, "Jesus will not allow boundaries to be set so that people may feel they have completed their obligation to God. Love does not have a boundary where we can say we have loved enough, nor does it permit us to choose those we will love. . . .Christianity is a moral religion and it is also a relational religion."

            But the parable does not tell us how to live this life of mercy. We can become quickly overwhelmed when we begin to experience the personal needs in our community. That may cause us to pull back. I think there is a clue for how to live lives of compassion found in the placement of the parable in Matthew. This whole section of chapters 9-11 in Matthew deals with discipleship. In chapter 10, Jesus sends the disciples out two by two, and gives them specific instructions about how they are to minister. They do not just wait for needs to find them. They are sent into the surrounding towns. This is proactive rather than reactive ministry.

            Kathy and I have a friend in Washington, Amy Muia, who serves in a county jail ministry. She has discovered that it is very difficult for those who are released from jail to begin a positive life on the outside. There are too many pressures and demands that come all at once. So the Lord has been leading her to open a house where women recently released from jail can live and be guided into a better life. This year she was able to raise funds and rent a house, and now has the first group living there. There is a similar house here in Lake County. Ministries of compassion and mercy are proactive and focused. They emerge from the leading of the Lord.

            Then we notice that immediately after the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus went to the home of Mary and Martha. Here Martha was distracted by many preparations, but Mary sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he said. Ministries of mercy begin and are nurtured in prayer and study of scripture. The needs of people can distract us and make life very confusing. Only as we pray does the call to mercy emerge. Prayer leads us into service.

            Finally, we have the words of Paul in Colossians 1:1-14 that we read. He thanks God for their faith in Christ and the love they have for all his people. This he calls, "the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven." When our hope is clear, when we are giving ourselves to prayer and listening, and when we are proactive in ministry, then compassion gets expressed in our lives.

            Amen.